Saying of the Week....
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. Sun Tzu
Monday, January 14, 2008
If You Like History....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=508044&in_page_id=1770
They came, they saw... and they asked for new underpants By HARRY MOUNT - More by this author » Last updated at 22:36pm on 13th January 2008
An archaeologist's life is often a pretty grim one, or so Robin Birley thought as he rooted through a pile of Roman sewage on a windswept fort in the wilds of Northumberland.
Sifting through the mixture of ancient sewage, rotten bracken and the contents of several decades' worth of Roman rubbish bins, Dr Birley didn't think much at first when he came across a handful of half-burnt, sodden slices of oak, each about the size of a postcard.
Then, suddenly, he spotted a few faded vertical and horizontal marks in ink - Roman ink, made out of gum arabic - and water.
Are you sitting comfortably? Ciaran Hinds, above, as Julius Caesar in the TV series Rome. The exhibition shows that soldiers in remote outposts yearned for nothing so much as the luxury of clean underwear
An archaeologist's life is often a pretty grim one, or so Robin Birley thought as he rooted through a pile of Roman sewage on a windswept fort in the wilds of Northumberland.
Sifting through the mixture of ancient sewage, rotten bracken and the contents of several decades' worth of Roman rubbish bins, Dr Birley didn't think much at first when he came across a handful of half-burnt, sodden slices of oak, each about the size of a postcard.
Then, suddenly, he spotted a few faded vertical and horizontal marks in ink - Roman ink, made out of gum arabic - and water.
Are you sitting comfortably? Ciaran Hinds, above, as Julius Caesar in the TV series Rome. The exhibition shows that soldiers in remote outposts yearned for nothing so much as the luxury of clean underwear
He had found it! The Holy Grail - the elusive detail experts on Roman Britain had been in search of for centuries: letters to and from the Roman soldiers who had garrisoned Britain from AD43 to 410.
Now known as the Vindolanda Tablets - after the fort where they were found - the more than 1,000 pieces of birch, alder and oak give an unparalleled, moving and often very funny insight into the life of the Roman soldier stuck miles from home at the end of the first century AD.
The letters, found 35 years ago, tend to be from officers and were found in the ruins of the praetorium, the residence of the officers commanding the Vindolanda units from AD90 to 120, just before Hadrian's Wall was built between AD122 and 130. The wall eventually stretched 74 miles from Solway Firth in the west to Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east.
The letters reveal how the soldiers miss their family and friends back in Gaul - that's where most of them came from.
How they long for fine Italian wine. How they dread the attacks of the vicious Picts - the woad-encrusted savages from the north whose raids were to be held off by the new wall of turf and stone stretching across the neck of England.
But most of all, how cold they are in the frozen north, a few miles from modern Hexham.
The funniest letter is a simple list of the clothes sent from the warm south to a poor frozen Roman: "Paria udonum ab Sattua solearum duo et subligariorum duo." Or - socks, two pairs of sandals and two pairs of underpants.
Two pairs of underpants! We tend to forget that the Roman Empire, the greatest the world has ever seen, stretching from Wales to Spain, from Tunisia to Turkey, had to be patrolled by thousands of soldiers, and soldiers, like all of us, are humans. And humans need underpants.
These glimpses into the life of a Roman soldier in Britain will form the central exhibit in a new British Museum show devoted to the Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from AD117 to 138 and visited Britain in 122.
But if Hadrian is the main feature of the new exhibition, then his lowly soldiers are the stars of the show - with their all-too-familiar gripes about life.
These little wooden postcards tell in the cramped hands of more than 280 correspondents what life was really like in the Roman Empire.
"My brother Veldeius," complains one. "I'm pretty shocked that you haven't written to me for ages. Have you heard anything from the folks?
"Do say hello to Virilis the vet and ask him if you can get one of our pals to bring me the pair of shears that he promised me after I paid him. Hope everything is going well. Goodbye."
Another reflects upon the strange native race they encounter: "The British are unprotected by armour. There are lots of cavalry. They don't use swords nor do these dreadful British people mount their horses to throw javelins at us."
But there are, apparently, some pleasures to be had in such an inhospitable posting: "To Lucius. The real reason for my letter is to hope that you're in good health.
"By the way, a friend has sent me 50 oysters from the Thames estuary on the north coast of Kent," writes a soldier.
Most Roman letters were written on papyrus - paper made from the papyrus plant grown in the Nile. Another technique was to inscribe a stilus tablet - a wooden frame with a wax panel set into it.
There's not much call for papyrus plants in Northumberland and the wax has perished from the stilus tablets, leaving barely decipherable scratch marks on the wooden frame beneath the wax.
How lucky, then, that the Vindolanda officers tended to write on longer-lasting simple leaves of wood, one to three millimetres thick, scratched with a reed pen dipped into an inkwell.
The wood was all local. Once written on, the letters were often folded, leaving an imprint of wet ink on the opposite page.
Just as on postcards today, Romans then wrote the addressee on the right side of the card, with the name of the sender below preceded by "a" or "ab" - meaning "from". Much of the letter was written by a professional scribe, with the sender closing the letter in his own hand, writing "vale frater" - "goodbye, brother".
Among the things we learn from these delicate little documents are military reports of the strength and activities of the Vindolanda garrison. Also revealed are details of the domestic administration of this remote little outpost.
Sifting through them, we learn of the diet of the Roman expat, so reminiscent of home: Massic wine (a fine Italian vintage), garlic, fish, semolina, lentils, olives and olive oil.
They also ate a lot of the local Pictish fare: pork fat, cereal, spices, roe-deer and venison.
There are many mentions, too, of "cervesa" and "callum" - that is, lager and pork scratchings, and all 1,000 years before the great British pub had been invented.
The demand for fine food hits a peak at the festival of the Roman goddess of chance, Fors Fortuna, when they have a hog roast, washed down with great quantities of wine, which they claim is "ad sacrum divae" - "for religious use" - an early version of the old "I only drink for medicinal purposes" ploy.
As well as pants, the Romans are desperate for "subuclae" - or vests - for the "abolla", the thick heavy cloak, and for "cubitoria", a full dinner service.
But what really gets the heart racing are the real day-to-day lives of the soldiers, their family and friends.
A man writing to his brother - "Vittius Adiutor eagle-bearer of the Second Augustan Legion to Cassius Saecularis, his little brother, very many greetings."
Solemnis, in another letter, wrote to his brother Paris: "Hello there. Hope all's well. I'm in top form - and I hope you are, even though you've been so bloody lazy and haven't sent me a single letter.
"I'm so much more considerate than you are, my brother, my messmate. Say hello to Diligens and Cogitatus and Corinthus. Goodbye, my dear brother."
Most moving of all is a letter from Claudia Severa to her sister, Sulpicia Lepidina, the wife of a big cheese at Vindolanda - Flavius Cerialis, prefect of the Ninth Cohort of Batavians.
"Oh how I want you to come to my birthday party - you'll make the day so much more enjoyable. I so hope you can make it. Goodbye, sister, my dearest soul."
"Anima mea desideratissima" - "My most longed-for soul" - Claudia calls Sulpicia in another letter. You can almost hear the wrenching apart of the hearts, divided by the greatest imperial project in history.
What a wrench it is for us, too, almost 2,000 years on, to read how those hearts were brought together by these rotten, scorched little slips of oak, inscribed with words that sound as fresh as if they were written this morning.
• Hadrian's Britain, British Museum, July 24 to October 26. • Amo, Amas, Amat... And All That: How To Become A Latin Lover by Harry Mount (Short Books, £12.99).
This is pretty interesting, I mean, they are from almost two thousand years ago but change the names to contemporary ones and they sound like letters any of us would write to loved ones far away. Kind of amazing such a fragile medium would still be around after 20 centuries. I enjoy how they sound like "real people"; many times I forget to keep in mind that even though in many ways we are different from people we read about in history, in many ways we are very much alike. It sounds as if some of the feelings these people had for each other are the same as we have for our loved ones today.
I would like to read more of the translations of the letters, think I will try to see if more are on the web.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
What were They Thinking??
Animals torn to pieces by lions in front of baying crowds: the spectator sport China DOESN'T want you to see By DANNY PENMAN -
The smiling children giggled as they patted the young goat on its head and tickled it behind the ears.
Some of the more boisterous ones tried to clamber onto the animal's back but were soon shaken off with a quick wiggle of its bottom.
It could have been a happy scene from a family zoo anywhere in the world but for what happened next.
Children feed goats before the 'show' starts. One that has been 'bought' by a visitor is carried off A man hoisted up the goat and nonchalantly threw it over a wall into a pit full of hungry lions. The poor goat tried to run for its life, but it didn't stand a chance. The lions quickly surrounded it and started tearing at its flesh.
"Oohs" and "aahs" filled the air as the children watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some started to clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes.
The scenes witnessed at Badaltearing Safari Park in China are rapidly becoming a normal day out for many Chinese families.
Once the goat is carried from its pen, it is swiftly thrown into the lion enclosure Baying crowds now gather in zoos across the country to watch animals being torn to pieces by lions and tigers.
Some of the more boisterous ones tried to clamber onto the animal's back but were soon shaken off with a quick wiggle of its bottom.
It could have been a happy scene from a family zoo anywhere in the world but for what happened next.
Children feed goats before the 'show' starts. One that has been 'bought' by a visitor is carried off A man hoisted up the goat and nonchalantly threw it over a wall into a pit full of hungry lions. The poor goat tried to run for its life, but it didn't stand a chance. The lions quickly surrounded it and started tearing at its flesh.
"Oohs" and "aahs" filled the air as the children watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some started to clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes.
The scenes witnessed at Badaltearing Safari Park in China are rapidly becoming a normal day out for many Chinese families.
Once the goat is carried from its pen, it is swiftly thrown into the lion enclosure Baying crowds now gather in zoos across the country to watch animals being torn to pieces by lions and tigers.
Just an hour's drive from the main Olympic attractions in Beijing, Badaling is in many ways a typical Chinese zoo.
Next to the main slaughter arena is a restaurant where families can dine on braised dog while watching cows and goats being disembowelled by lions.
The zoo also encourages visitors to "fish" for lions using live chickens as bait. For just £2, giggling visitors tie terrified chickens onto bamboo rods and dangle them in front of the lions, just as a cat owner might tease their pet with a toy.
The ravenous big cats quickly attack the goat and start to tear it limb from limb, all in the name of 'entertainment' for the Badaling zoo visitors
During one visit, a woman managed to taunt the big cats with a petrified chicken for five minutes before a lion managed to grab the bird in its jaws. The crowd then applauded as the bird flapped its wings pathetically in a futile bid to escape. The lion eventually grew bored and crushed the terrified creature to death. The tourists were then herded onto buses and driven through the lions' compound to watch an equally cruel spectacle. The buses have specially designed chutes down which you can push live chickens and watch as they are torn to shreds. Once again, children are encouraged to take part in the slaughter.
The lions tear the goat to pieces within seconds of landing in the enclosure
"It's almost a form of child abuse," says Carol McKenna of the OneVoice animal welfare group. "The cruelty of Chinese zoos is disgusting, but think of the impact on the children watching it. What kind of future is there for China if its children think this kind of cruelty is normal? "In China, if you love animals you want to kill yourself every day out of despair."
But the cruelty of Badaling doesn't stop with animals apart. For those who can still stomach it, the zoo has numerous traumatised animals to gawp at. A pair of endangered moon bears with rusting steel nose rings are chained up in cages so small that they cannot even turn around. One has clearly gone mad and spends most of its time shaking its head and bashing into the walls of its prison.
There are numerous other creatures, including tigers, which also appear to have been driven insane by captivity. Predictably, they are kept in cramped, filthy conditions.
!Zoos like this make me want to boycott everything Chinese," says Emma Milne, star of the BBC's Vets In Practice. "I'd like to rip out everything in my house that's made in China. I have big problems with their culture. "If you enjoy watching an animal die then that's a sad and disgusting reflection on you. "Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by their behaviour towards animals, as the value of human life is so low in China."
East of Badaling lies the equally horrific Qingdao zoo. Here, visitors can take part in China's latest craze — tortoise baiting.
Simply put, Chinese families now gather in zoos to hurl coins at tortoises. Legend has it that if you hit a tortoise on the head with a coin and make a wish, then your heart's desire will come true. It's the Chinese equivalent of a village wishing well. To feed this craze, tortoises are kept in barbaric conditions inside small bare rooms. When giggling tourists begin hurling coins at them, they desperately try to protect themselves by withdrawing into their shells. But Chinese zoo keepers have discovered a way round this: they wrap elastic bands around the animals' necks to stop them retracting their heads.
"Tortoises aren't exactly fleet of foot and can't run away," says Carol McKenna.
"It's monstrous that people hurl coins at the tortoises, but strapping their heads down with elastic bands so they can't hide is even more disgusting. "Because tortoises can't scream, people assume they don't suffer. But they do. I can't bear to think what it must be like to live in a tiny cell and have people hurl coins at you all day long."
Even worse is in store for the animals of Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village near Guilin in south-east China.
Here, live cows are fed to tigers to amuse cheering crowds. During a recent visit, I watched in horror as a young cow was stalked and caught. Its screams and cries filled the air as it struggled to escape. A wild tiger would dispatch its prey within moments, but these beasts' natural killing skills have been blunted by years of living in tiny cages. The tiger tried to kill — tearing and biting at the cow's body in a pathetic looking frenzy — but it simply didn't know how. Eventually, the keepers broke up the contest and slaughtered the cow themselves, much to the disappointment of the crowd.
Although the live killing exhibition was undoubtedly depressing, an equally disturbing sight lay around the corner: the "animal parade". Judging by the rest of the operation, the unseen training methods are unlikely to be humane, but what visitors view is bad enough.
Tigers, bears and monkeys perform in a degrading "entertainment". Bears wear dresses, balance on balls and not only ride bicycles but mount horses too. The showpiece is a bear riding a bike on a high wire above a parade of tigers, monkeys and trumpet-playing bears.
Astonishingly, the zoo also sells tiger meat and wine produced from big cats kept in battery-style cages.
Tiger meat is eaten widely in China and the wine, made from the crushed bones of the animals, is a popular drink.
Although it is illegal, the zoo is quite open about its activities. In fact, it boasts of having 140 dead tigers in freezers ready for the plate.
In the restaurant, visitors can dine on strips of stir-fried tiger with ginger and Chinese vegetables. Also on the menu are tiger soup and a spicy red curry made with tenderised strips of big cat. And if all that isn't enough, you can dine on lion steaks, bear's paw, crocodile and several different species of snake. "Discerning" visitors can wash it all down with a glass or two of vintage wine made from the bones of Siberian tigers.
The wine is made from the 1,300 or so tigers reared on the premises. The restaurant is a favourite with Chinese Communist Party officials who often pop down from Beijing for the weekend.
China's zoos claim to be centres for education and conservation. Without them, they say, many species would become extinct.
This is clearly a fig leaf and some would call it a simple lie. Many are no better than "freak shows" from the middle ages and some are no different to the bloody tournaments of ancient Rome. "It's farcical to claim that these zoos are educational," says Emma Milne.
"How can you learn anything about wild animals by watching them pace up and down inside a cage? You could learn far more from a David Attenborough documentary."
However pitiful the conditions might be in China's zoos, there are a few glimmers of hope.
It is now becoming fashionable to own pets in China. The hope is that a love for pets will translate into a desire to help animals in general. This does appear to be happening, albeit slowly.
One recent MORI opinion poll discovered that 90 per cent of Chinese people thought they had "a moral duty to minimise animal suffering". Around 75 per cent felt that the law should be changed to minimise animal suffering as much as possible.
In 2004, Beijing proposed animal welfare legislation which stipulated that "no one should harass, mistreat or hurt animals". It would also have banned animal fights and live feeding shows.
The laws would have been a huge step forward. But the proposals were scrapped following stiff opposition from vested interests and those who felt China had more pressing concerns.
And this is the central problem for animal welfare in China: its ruling elite is brutally repressive and cares little for animals.
Centuries of rule by tyrannical emperors and bloody dictators have all but eradicated the Buddhist and Confucian respect for life and nature.
As a result, welfare groups are urging people not to go to Chinese zoos if they should visit the Olympics, as virtually every single one inflicts terrible suffering on its animals
"They should tell the Chinese Embassy why they are refusing to visit these zoos,' says Carol McKenna of OneVoice.
"If a nation is great enough to host the Olympic Games then it is great enough to be able to protect its animals."
I remember a year or so ago China started a campaign to eliminate rabies by killing all the dogs the government could lay its hands on, and the way they accomplished the killing was by having men roam the streets and club dogs to death. So it is obvious that the thinking in China about humane treatment of animals is different from thinking in the West. But the treatment of animals by these zoos is disgusting and disturbing on so many levels. Why would people think this was good fun? And why would they want their children to see this happen to animals? What kind of mindset towards animals, indeed towards people, does this type of spectacle foster? Evidently life is cheap in China. With the current gender imbalance in China ( many more males are being born than females due to using abortion as a gender selection technique), large numbers of Chinese men will never be able to find a woman to marry. That is beginning to show serious implications for the future with the crimes of kidnapping and sale of females already rising. but to encourage a mindset that enjoys violence and cruelty seems to pave the way for even more crimes against women , with a concommittant cultural decline and eventual instability.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
What is Going On?
(Note: my own choice for photo)http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59581
SWAT team-seized boy refuses doc's painkillers; 11-year-old taken against parents' will after bumping head at family's home
Posted: January 8, 20081:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com
A Western Colorado boy who was taken by police against his parents wishes to a hospital after he was horsing around and bumped his head says the doctor told him to put ice on the bruise, and offered him painkillers, but he said he didn't need any.
WND has reported John Shiflett, 11, was taken to a hospital by the Garfield, Colo., County SWAT team after he fell, hitting his head on the ground, and his parents refused paramedic demands to be allowed to take him in.
A concerned neighbor apparently had called for an ambulance, but his father, Tom Shiflett, who worked with the medics corps in Vietnam, had evaluated his son and was watching him, so he told the paramedics to leave without his son.
Someone on the paramedic team then, apparently, called police and the sheriff's office, eventually resulting in a magistrate's order for the boy to be seized, triggering the sheriff's decision to invade the family's home with a SWAT team whose members had guns drawn.
"He's got one of the best shiners I've every seen," Tom Shiflett said of his son.
John Shiflett yesterday told WND that the doctor at the hospital took his blood pressure four times, and asked him if he was on any medications.
They asked if I was healthy and I said yes," he said. Doctors also did several X-ray procedures to evaluate his injury, and told him to drink a lot of cold liquids and "keep an ice pack on my head." he said.
"That's exactly what we were doing at home before we were interrupted," he said.
Authorities have declined to explain the reasoning for the court order for the medical evaluation, and SWAT team entrance into the home.
Jim Bradford, a court clerk in Garfield County, said it was a juvenile matter and he could not comment on any aspect of the case, and he declined to allow WND to leave a message for Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak, who signed the order.
A spokeswoman for WestCare Ambulance, which reportedly responded to the call, also refused to answer any questions about the case, saying all issues were considered patient confidentiality issues.
Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario did talk with WND about the situation, and said he simply ordered his officers to do exactly what the magistrate demanded.
"I was given a court order by the magistrate to seize the child, and arrange for medical evaluation, and that's what we did," he said.
Vallario said the SWAT team was dispatched, and officers knocked on the family's door. Shiflett told WND when he answered the knock the SWAT team members already had surrounded and were approaching his house from several directions.
The SWAT team then forcibly entered the home, punching a hole in the front door and pointing guns at family members, Tom Shiflett said. The boy's parents and siblings were thrown to the floor at gunpoint and the parents were handcuffed.
Someone, apparently the unidentified paramedic, had called police, the sheriff's office and social services, eventually providing Leoniak with a report that generated the magistrate's court order to the sheriff's office for the SWAT team assault on the family's home in a mobile home development outside of Glenwood Springs, the father told WND.
WND calls and e-mails to Garfield County Social Services also were not returned.
According to friends of the family, Tom Shiflett, who has 10 children including six still at home, and served with paramedics in Vietnam, was monitoring his son's condition himself.
The paramedic and magistrate, however, ruled that that wasn't adequate, and dispatched the officers to take the boy, John, to a hospital, where a doctor evaluated him and released him immediately.
The accident happened during horseplay, the family said. John was grabbing the door handle of a car as his sister was starting to drive away slowly. He slipped, fell to the ground and hit his head.
Shiflett immediately carried his son into their home several doors away, and John was able to recite Bible verses and correctly spell words as his father and mother, Tina, requested. There were no broken bones, no dilated eyes, or any other noticeable problems.
The family, whose members live by faith and homeschool, decided not to call an ambulance. But a neighbor did call Westcare Ambulance, and paramedics responded to the home, asking to see and evaluate the boy.
A family acquaintance said the decision not to let paramedics take the boy to the hospital, "did not go over well."
"The paramedics were not at all respectful of Tom's decision, nor did they act in a manner we would expect from professional paramedics," the acquaintance said.
Police first told the paramedics the decision to hospitalize the boy would be up to the family, and sheriff's deputies left the family's home after being assured John was being watched and cared for.
However, the next day, Friday, social services workers appeared at the door and demanded to talk with John "in private," before seeing him and eventually leaving.
Then, following an afternoon shopping trip to town, the family settled in for the evening, only to be shocked with the knock at the door and the SWAT team attack.
The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a "self-proclaimed constitutionalist" and had made threats and "comments" over the years.
However, the sheriff declined to provide a single instance of the father's illegal behavior. "I can't tell you specifically," he said.
"He was refusing to provide medical care," the sheriff said.
However, the sheriff said if his own children were involved in an at-home accident, he would want to be the one to make decisions on their healthcare, as did Shiflett.
"I guess if that was one of my children, I would make that decision," the sheriff said.
But he said Shiflett was "rude and confrontational" when the paramedics arrived and entered his home without his permission.
The sheriff also admitted that the injury to the child had been at least 24 hours earlier, because the fall apparently happened Thursday afternoon, and the SWAT attack happened late Friday evening.
Officials with the Home School Legal Defense Association reported they were looking into the case, because of requests from family friends who are members of the organization.
"While people can debate whether or not the father should have brought his son to the ER – it seems like this was not the kind of emergency that warrants this kind of outrageous conduct by government officials," a spokesman said.
"I don't know where social services ever got started, or where they got their authority," Shiflett said. "But I want to know why we have something in this country that violates our rights, that takes a parental right away."
"Now I'm hunting for lawyers that will take the case … I'm going to sue everybody whose name was on that page right down to the judge," he said.
Mike Donnelly, a lawyer with the HSLDA, told WND the case had a set of circumstances that could be problematic for authorities.
"In Doe V. Heck, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held that parents have a fundamental right to familial relations including a liberty interest in the care, custody and control of their children," he said.
I have one word for this, outrageous! The boy was seen by the paramedics and by social services; there was no reason to believe he was in any imminent danger. Even had there been a concern about him being in imminent danger, would that be a reason to send in a SWAT team to seize him? Is there such a dearth of government services that the first thing resorted to is a SWAT team breaking into the family home?
I think there is a bit more here than is being said outright. First, the family lives in a trailer, would a SWAT team have been sent to some swanky upscale address under the same circumstances in this town? I doubt it.
More disturbing to me is that the article says "the father was a "self-proclaimed constitutionalist" and had made threats and "comments" over the years. ". A self proclaimed Constitutionalist? Because he believed in the Constitution his home was targeted for this kind of action over his refusal to let the paramedics take his son in for what all sides seem to agree was just observation? Sheesh!! This appears to be an abuse of power by the government that would probably make a "Constitutionalist" out of a great many people who had not been one prior to hearing about this. Furthermore, what were these "comments" that the father had made in the past? Had the father threatened violence to someone? And how did the sheriff know of them? Was the family well known as being "nutty" or did the neighbor who, unasked, called the paramedics , have some sort of a greivance against them and pass the word about them on to the sheriff? Whichever, it is interesting to note that most of the time we can't get this much action against drug dealers and illegal aliens!!
I think there is certainly a reasonable suspicion that there is more going on behind the scenes here than is stated, the fact that someone ( perhaps the neighbor?) called the paramedics, then brought in the police, the social services dept, and then continued to pursue this to the point of getting a warrant from a judge to send a SWAT team to seize the boy makes me wonder what their real motivation was. I hope that the father finds a good lawyer, and that the lawyer sues everyone in sight, for this case certainly has enough frightening things going on to warrant that response. And I hope the family gets enough money to make the government think twice the next time anything similar to this happens before it reacts this way again.
and today they had another article on this incident :
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59616
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Did a Massive Tsunami Destroy Minoan Civilization on Crete?
Remains of King Minos's temple still stand in Knossos.Image courtesy of Evan Hadingham
01.04.2008
Did a Tsunami Wipe Out a Cradle of Western Civilization?
Did a Tsunami Wipe Out a Cradle of Western Civilization?
By Evan Hadingham
Like the Indian Ocean disaster, this wave was a mass killer.
The effects of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 are only too well known: It knocked the hell out of Aceh Province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, leveling buildings, scattering palm trees, and wiping out entire villages. It killed more than 160,000 people in Aceh alone and displaced millions more. Similar scenes of destruction were repeated along the coasts of Southeast Asia, India, and as far west as Africa. The magnitude of the disaster shocked the world.
What the world did not know was that the 2004 tsunami—seemingly so unprecedented in scale—would yield specific clues to one of the great mysteries of archaeology: What or who brought down the Minoans, the remarkable Bronze Age civilization that played a central role in the development of Western culture?
Europe’s first great culture sprang up on the island of Crete, in the Aegean Sea, and rose to prominence some 4,000 years ago, flourishing for at least five centuries. It was a civilization of sophisticated art and architecture, with vast trading routes that spread Minoan goods—and culture—to the neighboring Greek islands. But then, around 1500 B.C., the Minoan world went into a tailspin, and no one knows why.
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document.write. In 1939, leading Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos pinned the blame on a colossal volcanic eruption on the island of Thera, about 70 miles north of Crete, that occurred about 1600 B.C. The event hurled a plume of ash and rock 20 miles into the stratosphere, turning daylight into pitch darkness over much of the Mediterranean. The explosion was recently estimated to be 10 times as powerful as the 1883 eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia, which obliterated 300 towns and villages and killed at least 36,000 people. So extreme was the Thera eruption that many writers linked it to Plato’s legend of Atlantis, the magnificent island city swallowed up by the sea. Marinatos’s theory was bolstered in 1967 when he dug up the ruins of Akrotiri, a prosperous Minoan town on Thera that had been buried in volcanic ash. Akrotiri became famous as a Bronze Age Pompeii because the ash preserved two-story dwellings, exquisite frescoes, and winding streets almost intact.
On further examination, though, the ruins did not confirm the theory. It turned out that the pottery on Akrotiri was not from the final phase of Minoan culture; in fact, many Minoan settlements on Crete continued to exist for at least a generation or two after the Thera cataclysm. Archaeologists concluded that the Minoans had not only survived but thrived after the eruption, expanding their culture until they were hit by some other, unknown disaster—perhaps some combination of fire, earthquake, or foreign invader. Thera’s impact, it seemed, had been overestimated. But startling new evidence is forcing archaeologists to rethink the full fury of the Thera explosion, the natural disaster it may have triggered, and the nature of the final blow to the once-great Minoan civilization.
Each summer, thousands of tourists encounter the Minoans at the spectacularly restored ruins of Knossos, an 11-acre complex four miles south of Crete’s capital, Heraklion. Late-19th-century excavations by Sir Arthur Evans revealed Knossos to be a vast, intricately engineered, multistory building, complete with flushing toilets, statuettes of bare-breasted priestesses, and frescoes of athletes vaulting over bulls. In 1900, Evans discovered an impressive stone throne, from which he believed the legendary King Minos and his descendants had presided over Bronze Age Crete. In the 1980s, however, a new generation of archaeologists, including Joseph Alexander “Sandy” MacGillivray, a Montreal-born scholar at the British School at Athens, began questioning many of Evans’s assumptions. Smaller-scale versions of Knossos have turned up at nearly every Minoan settlement across Crete, and scholars now suspect there was no single king but rather many independent polities.
MacGillivray also became interested in how the civilization ended. At Palaikastro, in the island’s far northeastern corner, MacGillivray and his colleague Hugh Sackett have excavated seven blocks of a Minoan town of perhaps 5,000 inhabitants, their plastered and painted houses arranged in a network of tidy paved and drained streets. One striking find was the foundations of a fine mansion, paved with fancy purple schist and white limestone and designed around an airy central courtyard “of Knossian pretensions,” as MacGillivray puts it. “But after the house was destroyed by an earthquake, it was abandoned and never rebuilt, and that preserved some things we had a hard time explaining.”
The house was dusted with a powdery gray ash, so irritating that the diggers had to wear face masks. Chemical analysis showed that the ash was volcanic fallout from the Thera eruption, but instead of resting in neat layers, the ash had washed into peculiar places: a broken, upside-down pot; the courtyard’s drain; and one long, continuous film in the main street outside. It was as if a flash flood had hosed most of the ash away, leaving these remnants behind. Some powerful force had also flipped over several of the house’s paving slabs and dumped fine gravel over the walls—but this part of the site lies a quarter of a mile from the sea and far from any stream or river.
That wasn’t the only oddity. Another building “looked like it had been flattened, the whole frontage facing the sea had been torn off, and it made no sense. And we asked ourselves, could a wave have done this?” MacGillivray says.
The strangest and most significant find, however, was a soil layer down by the beach that looked like nothing MacGillivray had ever seen in four decades as a field archaeologist. A horizontal band of gravel about a foot thick was stuffed with a mad jumble of broken pottery, rocks, lumps of powdery gray ash, and mashed-up animal teeth and bones. Perhaps an exceptionally violent storm had inflicted this chaos, MacGillivray considered, but he began to suspect that a tsunami was the more likely culprit.
The statue at Mallia may have beensmashed and burned during an uprising against the Minoan elite. Image courtesy of Evan Hadingham
MacGillivray invited Hendrik Bruins to Palaikastro. The Dutch-born geoarchaeologist and human ecologist had a reputation as a skillful analyst of the thorny dating controversies that beset archaeology in the Middle East, but figuring out the chaotic layer overlooking the beach presented a novel scientific challenge. “Identifying a tsunami deposit is a completely new field,” Bruins explains. “Until the early 1990s, earth scientists didn’t even recognize that tsunamis do more than just destroy the coast—they leave distinctive deposits behind as well. I needed to do a lot of different tests to convince myself, as well as my colleagues, that we were dealing with a tsunami and not something else, like debris from a storm surge.”
Another building looked like it had been flattened. Could a wave have done this?
Bruins sent thin sections of the chaotic deposit to micropaleontologist Chaim Benjamini, a colleague at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. Benjamini identified the tiny round shells of foraminifera and fragments of red coralline algae; these marine organisms suggested that the ocean, rather than a river or a flash flood, had been involved. If the marine organisms had been scooped up from below sea level and dumped on the elevated promontory, something much bigger than a storm surge must have pounded the coast of ancient Crete.
The statue at Mallia may have beensmashed and burned during an uprising against the Minoan elite. Image courtesy of Evan Hadingham
MacGillivray invited Hendrik Bruins to Palaikastro. The Dutch-born geoarchaeologist and human ecologist had a reputation as a skillful analyst of the thorny dating controversies that beset archaeology in the Middle East, but figuring out the chaotic layer overlooking the beach presented a novel scientific challenge. “Identifying a tsunami deposit is a completely new field,” Bruins explains. “Until the early 1990s, earth scientists didn’t even recognize that tsunamis do more than just destroy the coast—they leave distinctive deposits behind as well. I needed to do a lot of different tests to convince myself, as well as my colleagues, that we were dealing with a tsunami and not something else, like debris from a storm surge.”
Another building looked like it had been flattened. Could a wave have done this?
Bruins sent thin sections of the chaotic deposit to micropaleontologist Chaim Benjamini, a colleague at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. Benjamini identified the tiny round shells of foraminifera and fragments of red coralline algae; these marine organisms suggested that the ocean, rather than a river or a flash flood, had been involved. If the marine organisms had been scooped up from below sea level and dumped on the elevated promontory, something much bigger than a storm surge must have pounded the coast of ancient Crete.
The strange pattern of gravel deposits in the town offered further evidence of a deep oceanic disturbance. Then there were lumps of gray ash in the beach layer, “resembling unstirred instant-soup lumps at the bottom of a cup,” according to Bruins. He sent samples of these lumps to two state-of-the-art geochemistry labs in Germany, which analyzed the sample’s geochemical signature. The results of both tests were identical: a perfect match between Theran ash and the “soup lumps” on the beach.
Finally, there was the question of when all this disruption occurred. Bruins sent fragments of cattle bones and seashells from the chaotic layer to the radiocarbon dating lab at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Because of well-known problems in calibrating dates from 3,500 years ago, he knew the lab would be unable to pin down the exact calendar age of the samples, but the uncalibrated measured age of the cattle bones closely matched the latest equivalent dates for the cataclysm on Thera.
All the clues pointed to one answer: A giant wave had struck Palaikastro Bay while freshly fallen ash from Thera was still lying about, inundating the town for miles inland and streaking it with strange patterns of ash. But could even a giant wave be big enough to wipe out an entire civilization?
MacGillivray consulted Costas Synolakis, an energetic Greek-born earth scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he pioneered the predictive computer model used by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. Synolakis’s first attempts to model tsunamis in the early 1990s began as a solitary exercise. Everything changed after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Synolakis visited Banda Aceh, the city in northwestern Sumatra closest to the epicenter of the undersea quake, where hundred-foot waves had destroyed a city of more than 150,000 people in minutes. “It was a surreal, absurdist landscape,” he says. “It took an effort of imagination to conceive that people had ever lived there.” Almost overnight, Synolakis’s expertise in computer modeling of tsunamis became a focus of worldwide scientific and media attention.
Finally, there was the question of when all this disruption occurred. Bruins sent fragments of cattle bones and seashells from the chaotic layer to the radiocarbon dating lab at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Because of well-known problems in calibrating dates from 3,500 years ago, he knew the lab would be unable to pin down the exact calendar age of the samples, but the uncalibrated measured age of the cattle bones closely matched the latest equivalent dates for the cataclysm on Thera.
All the clues pointed to one answer: A giant wave had struck Palaikastro Bay while freshly fallen ash from Thera was still lying about, inundating the town for miles inland and streaking it with strange patterns of ash. But could even a giant wave be big enough to wipe out an entire civilization?
MacGillivray consulted Costas Synolakis, an energetic Greek-born earth scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he pioneered the predictive computer model used by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. Synolakis’s first attempts to model tsunamis in the early 1990s began as a solitary exercise. Everything changed after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Synolakis visited Banda Aceh, the city in northwestern Sumatra closest to the epicenter of the undersea quake, where hundred-foot waves had destroyed a city of more than 150,000 people in minutes. “It was a surreal, absurdist landscape,” he says. “It took an effort of imagination to conceive that people had ever lived there.” Almost overnight, Synolakis’s expertise in computer modeling of tsunamis became a focus of worldwide scientific and media attention.
In 2000, Synolakis had con- sulted on a study to model a hypothetical Minoan tsunami. He found that no matter how steep the waves were when they started out at Thera, they dissipated quickly, reaching only three to nine feet at most when they hit Crete, some 70 miles away. The study concluded that such waves could have been “disruptive,” but not devastating, to Minoan Crete.
Synolakis was still thinking that way when he visited Palaikastro in May 2006. Then MacGillivray took him down to the beach. “The moment I looked at that debris layer, I was absolutely stunned,” Synolakis says. “The image that came to me, right then and there, is what I saw everywhere after the December 2004 tsunami: a blanket of cultural debris, broken dishes, broken glass, bits of bone, people’s belongings scattered everywhere. It looked exactly like that kind of debris carpet, and you don’t get it in a smaller tsunami. The presence of this chaotic deposit suggested that the tsunami was at least three or four meters [10 to 13 feet] at the shoreline.” What had begun as a casual visit now turned into a full-blown research project. Synolakis hired a boat and took depth measurements of the seabed in Palaikastro Bay. When he tested the hillside behind the Minoan town to establish how far the wave had penetrated inland, he found what appeared to be more layers of chaotic debris at an astounding 90 feet above sea level.
About 60 miles to the west of Palaikastro, near the palace of Mallia, the research team found yet another strikingly similar chaotic deposit. Plugging in all the new data, Synolakis drastically revised his tsunami model. “When we put it all together,” he says, “we’re looking at a wave that’s on the order of 15 meters [50 feet] when it hits the shore at Palaikastro. This is a gigantic wave, much larger, wider, and longer than we thought; its volume is 10 times more than what we estimated only six years ago. We’re talking about an extreme event, certainly on the order of the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster.”
Synolakis was still thinking that way when he visited Palaikastro in May 2006. Then MacGillivray took him down to the beach. “The moment I looked at that debris layer, I was absolutely stunned,” Synolakis says. “The image that came to me, right then and there, is what I saw everywhere after the December 2004 tsunami: a blanket of cultural debris, broken dishes, broken glass, bits of bone, people’s belongings scattered everywhere. It looked exactly like that kind of debris carpet, and you don’t get it in a smaller tsunami. The presence of this chaotic deposit suggested that the tsunami was at least three or four meters [10 to 13 feet] at the shoreline.” What had begun as a casual visit now turned into a full-blown research project. Synolakis hired a boat and took depth measurements of the seabed in Palaikastro Bay. When he tested the hillside behind the Minoan town to establish how far the wave had penetrated inland, he found what appeared to be more layers of chaotic debris at an astounding 90 feet above sea level.
About 60 miles to the west of Palaikastro, near the palace of Mallia, the research team found yet another strikingly similar chaotic deposit. Plugging in all the new data, Synolakis drastically revised his tsunami model. “When we put it all together,” he says, “we’re looking at a wave that’s on the order of 15 meters [50 feet] when it hits the shore at Palaikastro. This is a gigantic wave, much larger, wider, and longer than we thought; its volume is 10 times more than what we estimated only six years ago. We’re talking about an extreme event, certainly on the order of the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster.”
With eyewitness video of that disaster lingering in everyone’s minds, it took little imagination to visualize the physical destruction that must have hit Palaikastro, Mallia, and elsewhere along the Cretan coast. But evidence suggests that the Minoans survived the disaster for at least a generation or two; the real end came later, in an outbreak of fiery vandalism. Throughout Crete, temple-palaces were burned and ransacked, and there are no obvious signs of battle, invasion, or natural disaster at these ruins. Of all the great Minoan palaces, only Knossos survived; eventually it was taken over by the Mycenaeans, the mainland Greeks who prospered as the fortunes of Crete declined.
A leader of the Palaikastro team, Belgian archaeologist Jan Driessen, contends that the wave of destruction was the tail end of a spiral of instability that the Thera catastrophe set in motion. A steep drop-off in the number of Minoan sites suggests that there had been a famine or an epidemic, one perhaps touched off by the environmental effects of the eruption combined with the later tsunami.
There may have been a spiritual crisis as well. At Palaikastro, archaeologists found that a shrine had been violently destroyed and a cult statuette deliberately smashed and burned. Driessen suggests there may have been a reaction against the religious cult represented by the statuette, perhaps as part of a populist uprising against the elite in their villas and temple-palaces. The loss of life and livelihood after the eruption may have aggravated problems of class difference and widened the gap between the elite and the commoners, which Driessen says “existed already in Minoan society.”
The terrifying scale of the Thera eruption, followed by the devastating force of the giant tsunami it created, may have led to a gradual unraveling of the values and beliefs that had sustained this brilliant civilization for so long. In his poem “The Hollow Men,” T. S. Eliot writes these famous lines: “This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper.”
For the Minoans, it appears their world ended with both.
A leader of the Palaikastro team, Belgian archaeologist Jan Driessen, contends that the wave of destruction was the tail end of a spiral of instability that the Thera catastrophe set in motion. A steep drop-off in the number of Minoan sites suggests that there had been a famine or an epidemic, one perhaps touched off by the environmental effects of the eruption combined with the later tsunami.
There may have been a spiritual crisis as well. At Palaikastro, archaeologists found that a shrine had been violently destroyed and a cult statuette deliberately smashed and burned. Driessen suggests there may have been a reaction against the religious cult represented by the statuette, perhaps as part of a populist uprising against the elite in their villas and temple-palaces. The loss of life and livelihood after the eruption may have aggravated problems of class difference and widened the gap between the elite and the commoners, which Driessen says “existed already in Minoan society.”
The terrifying scale of the Thera eruption, followed by the devastating force of the giant tsunami it created, may have led to a gradual unraveling of the values and beliefs that had sustained this brilliant civilization for so long. In his poem “The Hollow Men,” T. S. Eliot writes these famous lines: “This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper.”
For the Minoans, it appears their world ended with both.
I find this fascinating ( I am a history nerd, lol) There has always been a lot of speculation on what finished off the Minoan civilization, it seems likely it was several things, but probably precipitated by the eruption of the volcano on Thera ( today's island of Santorini, 200km SE of Greece), the subesequent ash falls, and the violent explosion launching some 61 cu km of mountain into the atmosphere. Ashfalls 120 FEET thick have been found on the portions of the island which still remain. The only comparable eruption known to have occured in historic times was that of Tambora, in the Indonesian Archipelago in the early 1800's . The Tambora eruption caused a tsunami that devastated coastlines in the area, probably much as the Thera explosion is believed to have done. I remember reading about the tsunami damage from previous volcanic eruptions being suspect as having been exagerated. After the Dec 2004 Indonesian tsunami, it is now acccepted that the accounts were not exaggerations, that tsunamis swept away whole villages on islands many miles from the eruption.
But , you may ask ( and I hope you do) just how high can a tsunami be? The initial "splash" can be extremely high, but the highest height a column of water can be maintained at sea level is something around 198 feet, and it would quickly fall back from that height. Of course, as the wave reached the shallows approaching land it could then build again to massive heights.
So how high is the highest known tsunami? Glad you asked...
An earthquake that caused a rock fall into Lituya Bay in Alaska back in 1958 made a wave measured at 1700 FEET high.
To read more about about the mechanism of the Lituya quake and wave:
For survivor's accounts:
To use Mr. Spock's favorite phrase, "Fascinating".....
Monday, January 07, 2008
Proxy servers
If you are blocked at school or work.....
How to Get Around Website Blocks:The easiest way to get around a website block is to use a proxy website, aka web proxy. Web proxies work by acting as a middle man of sorts between your computer and the website's server. Let's pretend Joe in Iowa wants to unblock Big Bruin at work. To do this, he visits a proxy, types in bigbruin.com, and clicks "Go". Normally this Internet request would be sent straight to his company's servers and then the web filter, which would block the site. But since Joe is using a proxy, the request gets sent through the servers of the proxy website. The proxy downloads the website to its servers, makes any necessary modifications, and then sends it back to Joe. By doing this, the block is bypassed. Proxies work with most websites out there, including Myspace, Facebook, eBay, blogs, email, and of course, Big Bruin. Some websites like Digg may place restrictions on visitors using proxies. For instance, Digg will not allow proxy visitors to Digg stories, as this would make cheating the system very easy. To get you started, here are a few proxy websites you can use.» Internet Unblock» Unblock Utopia» Rock the Prox» Canada Unblock» The UnblockTypes of Web Proxies:There are more than 4,000 proxy websites on the Internet. However, they are all pretty much the same. Most proxy sites operate using one of two free scripts: CGI Proxy and PHP Proxy. As their names indicate, they each use CGI and PHP respectively. CGI Proxy is the older of the two. It runs a bit slower than PHP Proxy, but is compatible with more websites. On the other side of things, PHP Proxy runs a little faster than its CGI counterpart, but doesn't support as many websites. Some people have observed that sites running PHP Proxy tend to be newer, while stable and established proxy websites run CGI Proxy exclusively. PHP Proxy proxy sites can be identified by the "/index.php?q=" found in proxified URLs, while CGI Proxy sites often have "/nph-proxy.pl/" after the domain on proxified pages.Problems with Proxy Websites:Just like everything in life, proxies aren't perfect. Some websites may contain visual flaws when viewed through a proxy, and there are a rare few that block access from proxies. Some content, such as Flash videos, cannot be viewed through most proxies. This includes YouTube and online arcades. Currently, unblocking YouTube videos is in its experimental stage in the proxy industry. One good site to try if you do want to unblock a website that uses Flash elements, including YouTube videos, is Ultimate Unblock.
from http://www.bigbruin.com/2007/proxy_1
I can't vouch for these, I do not know if they are any good, but if you can't get on the game, they may be a quick save until you get to a better computer ISP. I tried them and they took me to the sites I typed, but I don't know any blocked sites, so don't know how well they'd work on that. Like I said, I have no personal knowledge of these or whether they are legit, so its your call whether to bother with them or not. As of right now, you are at #36 and have 21K gold so you seem safe if that makes any difference.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Saying of the Week
"In affairs so dangerous as war, false ideas proceeding from kindness of heart are precisely the worst. ... The fact that slaughter is a horrifying spectacle must make us take war more seriously, but not provide an excuse for gradually blunting our swords in the name of humanity. Sooner or later someone will come along with a sharp sword and hack off our arms."
Clausewitz
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Duncan Hunter
Why Chuck Yeager supports Duncan Hunter
Posted: January 3, 20081:00 a.m. Eastern
By Christopher G. Adamo
The unfolding 2008 presidential campaigns have brought some unusual names to the forefront of American politicking. Among them, Oprah Winfrey, that citadel of expertise on domestic and foreign affairs, gives her flamboyant support to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., while the intellectually vacant social activist vote of Barbra Streisand goes to Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Duncan Hunter
In contrast, consider the preference expressed by retired Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager. A true American superhero of unrivaled pedigree, Yeager was the first human being ever to fly "faster than a speeding bullet," as he successfully broke the sound barrier six decades ago in the Bell X-1. He went on to reach numerous other aviation milestones as a test pilot, eventually achieving the rank of brigadier general in the United States Air Force.
In a letter that has been recently distributed to Republican voters in early deciding states, Yeager enthusiastically offers his support for the presidential candidacy of Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. His reasons for doing so are extremely telling.
As a test pilot, fighter pilot and general officer, Yeager gained a keen awareness of the dangers facing America's combat forces and the bigger picture of how those dangers threatened the nation as a whole.
Along with his indomitable skill and courage as a test pilot, Yeager also attained a thorough understanding of the realities of his equipment and surroundings, and any limitations on them that could not be exceeded. Before he climbed into a machine that would hurl him to the stratosphere and back, it was essential that he have absolute confidence in the integrity of the people who designed it, those who built it, as well as those who serviced it for flight.
A successful test pilot can have little patience for the hindsight, second-guessing and "Monday morning quarterbacking" that typifies so much of the political field these days. It does little good for a pilot who attempts a downwind takeoff or neglects a proper preflight of his vehicle to be ready with a long list of excuses attempting to explain the disaster that ensued. In some situations, there is simply no substitute for being right the first time around.
Posted: January 3, 20081:00 a.m. Eastern
By Christopher G. Adamo
The unfolding 2008 presidential campaigns have brought some unusual names to the forefront of American politicking. Among them, Oprah Winfrey, that citadel of expertise on domestic and foreign affairs, gives her flamboyant support to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., while the intellectually vacant social activist vote of Barbra Streisand goes to Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Duncan Hunter
In contrast, consider the preference expressed by retired Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager. A true American superhero of unrivaled pedigree, Yeager was the first human being ever to fly "faster than a speeding bullet," as he successfully broke the sound barrier six decades ago in the Bell X-1. He went on to reach numerous other aviation milestones as a test pilot, eventually achieving the rank of brigadier general in the United States Air Force.
In a letter that has been recently distributed to Republican voters in early deciding states, Yeager enthusiastically offers his support for the presidential candidacy of Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. His reasons for doing so are extremely telling.
As a test pilot, fighter pilot and general officer, Yeager gained a keen awareness of the dangers facing America's combat forces and the bigger picture of how those dangers threatened the nation as a whole.
Along with his indomitable skill and courage as a test pilot, Yeager also attained a thorough understanding of the realities of his equipment and surroundings, and any limitations on them that could not be exceeded. Before he climbed into a machine that would hurl him to the stratosphere and back, it was essential that he have absolute confidence in the integrity of the people who designed it, those who built it, as well as those who serviced it for flight.
A successful test pilot can have little patience for the hindsight, second-guessing and "Monday morning quarterbacking" that typifies so much of the political field these days. It does little good for a pilot who attempts a downwind takeoff or neglects a proper preflight of his vehicle to be ready with a long list of excuses attempting to explain the disaster that ensued. In some situations, there is simply no substitute for being right the first time around.
Nor would a man like Chuck Yeager, whose very survival depended on his ability to meet any difficult occasion whether on the ground or in the air, be overly inspired by politicians that sidestep thorny political controversies. Clearly, he has not been impressed by the many attempts among the so-called "top tier" candidates to "thread the needle" between doing the right thing, which might generate a firestorm of criticism from the opposition, and doing the politically "safe" thing, even though it doesn't truly address the problem.
As a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and 75th Army Rangers in Vietnam, Duncan Hunter's job was not to try to skirt the difficult situations, but to confront them with confidence and conviction – and with a determination to prevail. And that quality has been a hallmark of his public life ever since.
Such attributes are critical to our nation, which faces threats to its future, both at home and from across the ocean, unlike any experienced by previous generations. This is simply not the time for pleasant-sounding but meaningless speeches. Rather, it is the time for an honest appraisal of the nature of the problems facing us and the best course to correct them.
Take, for example, the issue of illegal immigration. Yeager's endorsement starkly contrasts the platitudes and posturing of the other candidates against Hunter's no-nonsense approach to the illegal immigration issue.
Even though he's fully aware that it would make him a lightning rod to his critics, Hunter has never attempted to sugarcoat or play down the gravity of the situation or the severity of the measures necessary to effectively tackle it. Instead, he just got busy and built the fence that now protects San Diego from an unchecked influx of illegals. As a result, crime in San Diego has plummeted. Well thought actions work where empty words fail. And Duncan Hunter is a man of action to match his words.
Yeager goes on to point out that Hunter is no less direct in his assessment of the emerging threats posed by the Chinese. And, standing virtually alone, he is resolved and forthright in his intentions to confront the situation.
Throughout his 26 years in Congress, Duncan Hunter has taken on such enormous tasks as a unwavering conservative. Unlike so many current political figures, he has no need to offer any excuses or apologies for past lapses in judgment. And he has prevailed.
To those who say his chances of success are too much of a long shot since his campaign is not backed by the powerful interests, Yeager counters that Duncan Hunter is perhaps the only candidate who does not believe he can buy his way into the White House. Rather, he relies on the strength of his conservative principles.
This is the single most defining difference between Duncan Hunter and the so-called "top tier" candidates. Duncan Hunter stands alone in his ability to endure close scrutiny of his past record. In complete contrast to the "top tier," America can be sure that the more it learns about Duncan Hunter, the more it will revere and respect him. As a leading force who has been devoted to the good of the nation throughout his public life, he needs and deserves the country's enthusiastic support.
Moreover, in Chuck Yeager's America, difficulty is never a reason to refuse a challenge. Whenever the people of the heartland put their minds to something simply because it is the right thing to do, no matter how daunting a task it may be, they can succeed. And Yeager's own life and accomplishments certainly stand as proof.
As a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and 75th Army Rangers in Vietnam, Duncan Hunter's job was not to try to skirt the difficult situations, but to confront them with confidence and conviction – and with a determination to prevail. And that quality has been a hallmark of his public life ever since.
Such attributes are critical to our nation, which faces threats to its future, both at home and from across the ocean, unlike any experienced by previous generations. This is simply not the time for pleasant-sounding but meaningless speeches. Rather, it is the time for an honest appraisal of the nature of the problems facing us and the best course to correct them.
Take, for example, the issue of illegal immigration. Yeager's endorsement starkly contrasts the platitudes and posturing of the other candidates against Hunter's no-nonsense approach to the illegal immigration issue.
Even though he's fully aware that it would make him a lightning rod to his critics, Hunter has never attempted to sugarcoat or play down the gravity of the situation or the severity of the measures necessary to effectively tackle it. Instead, he just got busy and built the fence that now protects San Diego from an unchecked influx of illegals. As a result, crime in San Diego has plummeted. Well thought actions work where empty words fail. And Duncan Hunter is a man of action to match his words.
Yeager goes on to point out that Hunter is no less direct in his assessment of the emerging threats posed by the Chinese. And, standing virtually alone, he is resolved and forthright in his intentions to confront the situation.
Throughout his 26 years in Congress, Duncan Hunter has taken on such enormous tasks as a unwavering conservative. Unlike so many current political figures, he has no need to offer any excuses or apologies for past lapses in judgment. And he has prevailed.
To those who say his chances of success are too much of a long shot since his campaign is not backed by the powerful interests, Yeager counters that Duncan Hunter is perhaps the only candidate who does not believe he can buy his way into the White House. Rather, he relies on the strength of his conservative principles.
This is the single most defining difference between Duncan Hunter and the so-called "top tier" candidates. Duncan Hunter stands alone in his ability to endure close scrutiny of his past record. In complete contrast to the "top tier," America can be sure that the more it learns about Duncan Hunter, the more it will revere and respect him. As a leading force who has been devoted to the good of the nation throughout his public life, he needs and deserves the country's enthusiastic support.
Moreover, in Chuck Yeager's America, difficulty is never a reason to refuse a challenge. Whenever the people of the heartland put their minds to something simply because it is the right thing to do, no matter how daunting a task it may be, they can succeed. And Yeager's own life and accomplishments certainly stand as proof.
'nough said.
The Truth Slips Out...
(01-02) 22:15 PST San Francisco -- Two victims of a lethal Christmas Day tiger attack were harassing the big cats at the San Francisco Zoo shortly before a 350-pound feline escaped its enclosure and mauled them, a woman told The Chronicle on Wednesday.
The revelation comes as the zoo reopens today, nine days after a visitor was killed and two of his friends were injured by the Siberian tiger, later shot dead by police.
Jennifer Miller, who was at the zoo with her husband and two children that ill-fated Christmas afternoon, said she saw four young men at the big-cat grottos - and three of them were teasing the lions a short time before the tiger's bloody rampage that killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr.
"The boys, especially the older one, were roaring at them. He was taunting them," the San Francisco woman said. "They were trying to get that lion's attention. ... The lion was bristling, so I just said, 'Come on, let's get out of here' because my kids were disturbed by it."
The revelation comes as the zoo reopens today, nine days after a visitor was killed and two of his friends were injured by the Siberian tiger, later shot dead by police.
Jennifer Miller, who was at the zoo with her husband and two children that ill-fated Christmas afternoon, said she saw four young men at the big-cat grottos - and three of them were teasing the lions a short time before the tiger's bloody rampage that killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr.
"The boys, especially the older one, were roaring at them. He was taunting them," the San Francisco woman said. "They were trying to get that lion's attention. ... The lion was bristling, so I just said, 'Come on, let's get out of here' because my kids were disturbed by it."
She said Sousa - whom she later recognized from his photo in the newspaper - was not heckling. The Chronicle contacted Miller after learning that she and her family had seen the young men at the zoo Christmas Day.
Miller, who said she visits the zoo with her relatives every Christmas, said the young men stood out because she has seen mostly families there. Although authorities have said Sousa was accompanied only by San Jose brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, Miller said four young men were together when she came across them.
Mark Geragos, an attorney speaking on behalf of the Dhaliwals, angrily denied that his clients teased the animals. He also accused the zoo administration and their newly hired crisis spokesman of "peddling unfounded rumors."
"It's unconscionable," he said. "They're doing nothing but a calculated attack on these victims ... when in actuality the zoo security didn't do what they should have been doing after the attack."
Geragos maintains that the brothers ran to the Terrace Cafe after Tatiana escaped and tried for more than 30 minutes to solicit help from zoo employees. He dismissed reports of the victims throwing rocks at the tiger as "just not true."
Miller called the behavior she witnessed by the victims "disturbing."
Her family was looking at the lions when the young men stopped beside them at the big-cat grottos - five outdoor exhibits attached to the Lion House. The young men started roaring at the lions and acting "boisterous" to get their attention, said Miller, who added that she watched the four for five minutes or so a little after 4 p.m.
"It was why we left," she said. "Their behavior was disturbing. They kept doing it."
Sousa refrained from such tactics, Miller said.
"He wasn't roaring. He wasn't taunting them," she recalled. "He kept looking at me apologetically like, 'I'm sorry, I know we are being stupid.' "
When a friend told Miller about the attacks - first reported to 911 dispatchers at 5:07 p.m. - she called police the day after Christmas to tell them what she had seen. She called back Wednesday because she was wondering why news accounts mentioned only three young men.
San Francisco police Inspector Valerie Matthews said investigators had talked to Miller on Wednesday but haven't been able to substantiate yet her account of a fourth person with the victims at the zoo. Authorities have been unable to corroborate reports that the victims taunted the tigers, she said.
"I don't know if what they did was any more than what kindergartners do at the zoo every day," Matthews said.
She said taunting an animal at the zoo is a misdemeanor.
Zoo officials declined Wednesday to specifically say that they suspected taunting in the escape of the tiger.
"Something prompted our tiger to leap over the exhibit," said Manuel Mollinedo, executive director of the zoo, in response to questions during a 13-minute press conference attended by at least 40 media representatives on Wednesday.
Mollinedo said new "Protect the Animals" signs would ask patrons to leave the animals alone, and portable loudspeakers would remind visitors to leave promptly at the 5 p.m. closing time. A hard-wired notification system is also in the offing to alert visitors to any escapes by the creatures that live there.
"Help make the zoo a safe environment," the signs state. "The magnificent animals in the zoo are wild and possess all their natural instincts. You are a guest in their home. Please remember they are sensitive and have feelings. PLEASE don't tap on glass, throw anything into exhibits, make excessive noise, tease or call out to them."
At the news conference, Zoological Society Chairman Nick Podell lavishly praised the beleaguered Mollinedo, who took over at the zoo in February 2004 and was earning $314,038 a year plus $15,702 in benefits and a $9,548 expense account, according to zoo tax documents filed in November. The society operates the zoo, although the land and animals are owned by the city.
Zoo officials said that over the next 30 days they will build a reinforced-glass barrier atop the tiger grotto's dry moat wall. On Tuesday the zoo said the glass wall would be 4 to 5 feet high, bringing the wall height to at least 16.5 feet tall, roughly what is suggested by national standards. However, on Wednesday the zoo said the wall would be at least 19 feet tall and feature viewing holes.
In the days after the fatal mauling, zoo officials gave five different estimates of the moat wall's height before finally conceding the wall was only 12.5 feet tall - 4 feet shorter than national recommendations.
"It will put us in the top end of the spectrum for containment facilities," Mollinedo said.
He remained vague on several other issues. Although he said 20 patrons were at the zoo when the attack occurred, he didn't know how many staff people or security officers were present. He said there will be more employees on duty in the future, although he wasn't sure when that staffing increase would happen. And he didn't know how much the proposed improvements would cost or where the money would come from.
"I'll have to get back to you on that," Mollinedo said more than once.
Mollinedo said his staff acted heroically after the attacks, although he couldn't describe any specific instances. However, zoo employees have told The Chronicle that they were among the first on the scene and led paramedics to Sousa's body while the tiger was still roaming the grounds.
When the zoo reopens, the big cats will be inside the Lion House, which will be closed to the public. Screened fences and barriers will surround the outdoor grotto and Terrace Cafe, sites of the attacks.
Patrons will be able to leave mementos and tributes at the main entrance to both Sousa and the 4-year-old Tatiana, who had mangled her keeper's arm a year earlier.
Also Wednesday, San Francisco police Sgt. Steve Mannina said investigators found an empty vodka bottle in the car that was used by the victims to go to the zoo on Christmas Day. Inspectors haven't concluded the significance of the find, he added.
Mannina also said results of toxicological tests performed on Sousa, who was killed by the tiger, have not been returned yet.
Miller, who said she visits the zoo with her relatives every Christmas, said the young men stood out because she has seen mostly families there. Although authorities have said Sousa was accompanied only by San Jose brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, Miller said four young men were together when she came across them.
Mark Geragos, an attorney speaking on behalf of the Dhaliwals, angrily denied that his clients teased the animals. He also accused the zoo administration and their newly hired crisis spokesman of "peddling unfounded rumors."
"It's unconscionable," he said. "They're doing nothing but a calculated attack on these victims ... when in actuality the zoo security didn't do what they should have been doing after the attack."
Geragos maintains that the brothers ran to the Terrace Cafe after Tatiana escaped and tried for more than 30 minutes to solicit help from zoo employees. He dismissed reports of the victims throwing rocks at the tiger as "just not true."
Miller called the behavior she witnessed by the victims "disturbing."
Her family was looking at the lions when the young men stopped beside them at the big-cat grottos - five outdoor exhibits attached to the Lion House. The young men started roaring at the lions and acting "boisterous" to get their attention, said Miller, who added that she watched the four for five minutes or so a little after 4 p.m.
"It was why we left," she said. "Their behavior was disturbing. They kept doing it."
Sousa refrained from such tactics, Miller said.
"He wasn't roaring. He wasn't taunting them," she recalled. "He kept looking at me apologetically like, 'I'm sorry, I know we are being stupid.' "
When a friend told Miller about the attacks - first reported to 911 dispatchers at 5:07 p.m. - she called police the day after Christmas to tell them what she had seen. She called back Wednesday because she was wondering why news accounts mentioned only three young men.
San Francisco police Inspector Valerie Matthews said investigators had talked to Miller on Wednesday but haven't been able to substantiate yet her account of a fourth person with the victims at the zoo. Authorities have been unable to corroborate reports that the victims taunted the tigers, she said.
"I don't know if what they did was any more than what kindergartners do at the zoo every day," Matthews said.
She said taunting an animal at the zoo is a misdemeanor.
Zoo officials declined Wednesday to specifically say that they suspected taunting in the escape of the tiger.
"Something prompted our tiger to leap over the exhibit," said Manuel Mollinedo, executive director of the zoo, in response to questions during a 13-minute press conference attended by at least 40 media representatives on Wednesday.
Mollinedo said new "Protect the Animals" signs would ask patrons to leave the animals alone, and portable loudspeakers would remind visitors to leave promptly at the 5 p.m. closing time. A hard-wired notification system is also in the offing to alert visitors to any escapes by the creatures that live there.
"Help make the zoo a safe environment," the signs state. "The magnificent animals in the zoo are wild and possess all their natural instincts. You are a guest in their home. Please remember they are sensitive and have feelings. PLEASE don't tap on glass, throw anything into exhibits, make excessive noise, tease or call out to them."
At the news conference, Zoological Society Chairman Nick Podell lavishly praised the beleaguered Mollinedo, who took over at the zoo in February 2004 and was earning $314,038 a year plus $15,702 in benefits and a $9,548 expense account, according to zoo tax documents filed in November. The society operates the zoo, although the land and animals are owned by the city.
Zoo officials said that over the next 30 days they will build a reinforced-glass barrier atop the tiger grotto's dry moat wall. On Tuesday the zoo said the glass wall would be 4 to 5 feet high, bringing the wall height to at least 16.5 feet tall, roughly what is suggested by national standards. However, on Wednesday the zoo said the wall would be at least 19 feet tall and feature viewing holes.
In the days after the fatal mauling, zoo officials gave five different estimates of the moat wall's height before finally conceding the wall was only 12.5 feet tall - 4 feet shorter than national recommendations.
"It will put us in the top end of the spectrum for containment facilities," Mollinedo said.
He remained vague on several other issues. Although he said 20 patrons were at the zoo when the attack occurred, he didn't know how many staff people or security officers were present. He said there will be more employees on duty in the future, although he wasn't sure when that staffing increase would happen. And he didn't know how much the proposed improvements would cost or where the money would come from.
"I'll have to get back to you on that," Mollinedo said more than once.
Mollinedo said his staff acted heroically after the attacks, although he couldn't describe any specific instances. However, zoo employees have told The Chronicle that they were among the first on the scene and led paramedics to Sousa's body while the tiger was still roaming the grounds.
When the zoo reopens, the big cats will be inside the Lion House, which will be closed to the public. Screened fences and barriers will surround the outdoor grotto and Terrace Cafe, sites of the attacks.
Patrons will be able to leave mementos and tributes at the main entrance to both Sousa and the 4-year-old Tatiana, who had mangled her keeper's arm a year earlier.
Also Wednesday, San Francisco police Sgt. Steve Mannina said investigators found an empty vodka bottle in the car that was used by the victims to go to the zoo on Christmas Day. Inspectors haven't concluded the significance of the find, he added.
Mannina also said results of toxicological tests performed on Sousa, who was killed by the tiger, have not been returned yet.
Well, did anyone think that three young men went to the Zoo on Christmas afternoon just to see the animals? From the moment I heard their ages, and the fact that they knew each other, I thought the most likely scenario was that they had been fooling around at the tiger's area. The fact that the police haven't stated any conclusions they may have had about the empty vodka bottle in the victim's car doesn't mean they haven't made any conclusions. I am relieved to hear what the witness said, sort of brings a "new" viewpoint to the situation from what the attorney, Gerragos, painted.
It was a horrible thing to have happen, and no one deserves to die for being stupid, but the fact that the victims were most likely fooling around teasing the animal makes it at least understandable.
Where Did Liberals and Comservatives Come From?
Warning, if you are a Liberal you probably should not read this post. 
The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: 1. Liberals 2. Conservatives. Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor the aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed. Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement. Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men or wussies. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided. Over the years Conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth; the elephant.
Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.
Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.
A few modern liberals like Mexican light beer (with lime added), but most prefer a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc, with passion fruit and kiwi aromas which are marked by grassy notes, then rounded out on the mid palate by peach flavors. Crisp and refreshing, with a hint of chalky minerality on the finish; or Perrier bottled water. They eat raw fish but dislike beef. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.
Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, Ivy League professors, journalists,dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated-hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.
Conservatives drink Sam Adams, Harpoon IPA or Yuengling Lager. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes,Marines, and generally anyone who works productively.Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living. Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.Here ends today's lesson in world history: It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding. A Conservative will simply laugh and be soconvinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other truebelievers and to more liberals just to piss them off.
Can You Believe It?
Check out these photos and read the caption under the first one before going to the next post down. Look at the picture above and you can see where this guy broke through the guardrail, right side where the people are standing on the road (pointing). The pick-up was traveling from right to left when it crashed through the guardrail. It flipped end-over-end, across the culvert outlet, and landed right side up on the left side of the culvert, facing the opposite direction from which he was traveling.
and you think YOU sleep soundly?
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23405223-details/Deaf+woman+slept+through+five-hour+gun+siege/article.do
Deaf woman slept through five-hour gun siege 21.07.07
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After laying siege to a house for five hours, police gave a final warning before storming the house where a gunman had been reported inside.
A police dog rushed upstairs and, finding a woman in bed, proceeded to sink its teeth into her arms.
But as armed officers surrounded a terrified Sonia Pellow, they realised two things. First, she wasn't a gunman.
Second, she was deaf and had been sleeping throughout the entire stand-off.
Yesterday Miss Pellow, 36, was still too afraid to return to her home in Hayle, Cornwall, after the ordeal, which followed a hoax call to police that a gunman was inside.
"I don't know what happened - I was asleep but then this dog was all over me," she said. "I got bitten on both of my arms. I was terrified."
Her father Esmond, 67, added: "Sonia is hard of hearing and is also very difficult to wake up once she is asleep. It looks like she was attacked by a crocodile, not a dog."
Miss Pellow was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully possessing a firearm but released without charge.
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said the matter would be investigated if she made a complaint.
He added: "Police negotiators had been at the scene trying to make contact with anyone inside the house for several hours."
I may not be a criminal justice major, but this sounds like the plot of a bad police movie. They either didn't investigate the initial tip that there was a gunman there, or they didn't investigate the tip very well. Moreover, I would think after a 5 hour siege at night in a quiet neighborhood, someone among the neighbors might have said something to the police that a deaf person lived there. I smell a huge lawsuit ....
Economics 101
Caring vs. uncaring-Walter E. WilliamsPosted: May 10, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern© 2006 Creators Syndicate, Inc.George Orwell admonished, "Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious." That's what I want to do – talk about the obvious, starting with the question: What human motivation leads to the most wonderful things getting done?How about the charity and selflessness we've seen from people like Mother Teresa? What about the ceaseless and laudable work of organizations like the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and Salvation Army? What about the charitable donations of rich Americans, to use the silly phrase, who've given something back?While the actions of these people and their organizations are laudable, results motivated by charity and selflessness pale in comparison to other motives behind getting good things done. Let's look at it.In December 1999, Stephen Moore and Julian L. Simon wrote an article titled "The Greatest Century That Ever Was," published by the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute. In it they report: Over the course of the 20th century, life expectancy increased by 30 years; annual deaths from major killer diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, typhoid, whooping cough and pneumonia fell from 700 to fewer than 50 per 100,000 of the population; agricultural workers fell from 41 to 2.5 percent of the workforce; household auto ownership rose from one to 91 percent; household electrification rose from 8 to 99 percent; controlling for inflation, household assets rose from $6 trillion to $41 trillion between 1945 and 1998. These are but a few of the wonderful things that have occurred during the 20th century.Returning to my initial question: What human motivation accounts for the accomplishment of these and many other wonderful things? The answer should be obvious. It was not accomplished by people's concern for others, but by people's concern for themselves. In other words, it's people seeking more for themselves that has produced a better life for all Americans.Take a minor example. I think it's wonderful that Idaho potato farmers get up early in the morning to toil in the fields, which results in Walter Williams in Pennsylvania enjoying potatoes. Does anyone think they make that sacrifice because they care about me? They might hate me, but they make sure that I enjoy potatoes because they care about and want more things for themselves.What about all those people who've invented and marketed machines that do everything from diagnosing illnesses to controlling air flight? Were they basically motivated by a concern for others, or were they mostly concerned with their own well-being?One of the wonderful things about free markets is that the path to greater wealth comes not from looting, plundering and enslaving one's fellow man, as it has throughout most of human history, but by serving and pleasing him. Many of the wonderful achievements of the 20th century were the result of the pursuit of profits. Unfortunately, demagoguery has led to profits becoming a dirty word. Nonprofit is seen as more righteous, particularly when people pompously stand before us and declare, "We're a nonprofit organization."Profit is cast in a poor light because people don't understand the role of profits. Profit is a payment to entrepreneurs just as wages are payments to labor, interest to capital and rent to land. In order to earn profits in free markets, entrepreneurs must identify and satisfy human wants in a way that economizes on society's scarce resources.Here's a little test. Which entities produce greater consumer satisfaction: for-profit enterprises such as supermarkets, computer makers and clothing stores, or nonprofit entities such as public schools, post offices and motor vehicle departments? I'm guessing you'll answer the former. Their survival depends on pleasing ordinary people, as opposed to the latter, whose survival is not so strictly tied to pleasing people.Don't get me wrong. I'm not arguing that self-interest and the free-market system produce perfect outcomes, but they're the closest we'll come to perfection here on Earth.Dr. Walter E. Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
Right on! For some reason ( most probably economic ignorance) a majority of people seem to think making a profit is a "dirty word". As Dr. Williams points out, who is more interested in keeping you happy, someone who wants to make money from you, or somone motivated for 'altruistic reasons'? I think his illustration makes it perfectly clear , and one trip to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles, (or any other government agency) is enough to make you WISH they had a profit motivation in their 'business'. I have said many times that if Walmart was run like the Dept. of Motor Vehicles they'd have gone out of business long ago. But this idea of enlightened self interest being at the heart of most of our success seems not to be being taught any more. Instead of so much of the "touchy-feely mush" or 'blame America first' that passes for education today, society would be better served by some plain old fashioned economics lessons. And throw in a little of that old fashioned ' readin', writin', and 'rithmetic' and we 'd be even better off
Love is Blind
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-attraction30jul30%2C0%2C6503437%2Cfull.story?coll=la-headlines-health
This is your brain on love
When you're attracted to someone, is your gray matter talking sense -- or just hooked? Scientists take a rational look.
By Susan Brink, Los Angeles Times Staff WriterJuly 30, 2007
Her front brain is telling her he's trouble. Look at the facts, it says. He's never made a commitment, he drinks too much, he can't hold down a job.But her middle brain won't listen. Man, it swoons, he looks great in those jeans, his black hair curls onto his forehead so adorably, and when he drags on a cigarette, he's so bad he's good.His front brain is lecturing, too: She's flirting with every guy in the place, and she can drink even you under the table, it says. His mid-brain is unresponsive, distracted by her legs, her blouse and her come-hither stare."What could you be thinking?" their front brains demand.Their middle brains, each on a quest for reward, pay no heed.Alas, when it comes to choosing mates, smart neurons can make dumb choices. Sure, if the brain's owner is in her 40s and has been around the block a few times, she might grab her bag and scram. If the guy has reached seasoned middle age, he might think twice about that cleavage-baring temptress. Wisdom -- at least a little -- does come with experience.But if the objects of desire are in their 20s, all bets are off. A lot will depend on the influence of Mom and Dad's marriage, the gossip and urgings of friends, and whether life experience has convinced these two brains that what they're looking at is attractive. She just might sidle over to Mr. Wrong and bat her eyes. And he could well give in to temptation.And so the dance of attraction, infatuation and ultimately love begins.It's a dance that holds many mysteries, to psychologists as well as to the willing participants. Science is just beginning to parse the inner workings of the brain in love, examining the blissful or ruinous fall from a medley of perspectives: neural systems, chemical messengers and the biology of reward.It was only in 2000 that two London scientists selected 70 people, all in the early sizzle of love, and rolled them into the giant cylinder of a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner, or fMRI. The images they got are thought to be science's first pictures of the brain in love.The pictures were a revelation, and others have followed, showing that romantic love is a lot like addiction to alcohol or drugs. The brain is playing a trick, necessary for evolution, by associating something that just happened with pleasure and attributing the feeling to that magnificent specimen right before your eyes.All animals mate: The most primitive system in the brain, one that even reptiles have, knows it needs to reproduce. Turtles do it but then lay their eggs in the sand and head back to sea, never seeing their mate again.Human brains are considerably more complicated, with additional neural systems that seek romance, others that want comfort and companionship, and others that are just out for a roll in the hay.Yet the chemistry between two people isn't just a matter of molecules careening around the brain, dictating feelings like some game of neuro-billiards. Attraction also involves personal history. "Our parents have an effect on us," says Helen Fisher, evolutionary anthropologist at Rutgers University who studies human attraction. "So does the school system, television, timing, mystery."Every book ever read, and every movie ever wept through, starts charting a course toward the chosen one.
The love dance
"Love," that one small word, stands for a hodgepodge of feelings and drives: lust, romance, passion, attachment, commitment and contentment. Studying this brew is made harder because the pathways aren't totally distinct. Lust and romance, for example, have some overlapping biology, even though they are not the same thing.Similarly, the dance that leads, if we're lucky, to a stable commitment moves through several key steps.First comes initial attraction, the spark. If someone's going to pick one person out of the billions of opposite-sex humans out there, it's this step that starts things rolling.Next comes the wild, dizzying infatuation of romance -- a unique magic between two people who can't stop thinking about each other. The brain uses its chemical arsenal to focus our attention on one person, forsaking all others."Everyone knows what that feels like. This is one of the great mysteries. It's the love potion No. 9, the click factor, interpersonal chemistry," says Gian Gonzaga, senior research scientist at eHarmony Labs.The passion lasts at least for a few months, two to four years tops, says relationship researcher Arthur Aron, psychologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.As it fades, something more stable takes over: the steady pair-bonding of what's called companionate love. It's a heartier variety, characterized by tenderness, affection and stability over the long haul. Far less is known about the brains of people celebrating their silver anniversaries or more, but researchers are beginning to recruit such couples to find out.When Kelly and Robert Iblings of Calabasas had their first face-to-face meeting after a month of corresponding online, all signs of a spark were there. Kelly, 30, recalls thinking "Wow!" Robert, 33, thought Kelly was beautiful. "I love his height," Kelly says of Robert's 6-foot-4 frame. "And those eyes. He's quite handsome. I mean, look at him. He's cute. He's hot.""She's very cute," Robert says. "And I like the way she laughs."Their brains' signals were in sync, and it was good.It probably didn't hurt that they were a little bit nervous about meeting each other.For years, scientists have known that attraction is more likely to happen when people are aroused, be it through laughter, anxiety or fear. Aron tested that theory in 1974 on the gorgeous but spine-chilling heights of the Capilano Canyon Suspension Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia -- a 5-foot wide, 450-foot, wobbly, swaying length of wooden slats and wire cable suspended 230 feet above rocks and shallow rapids.His research team waited as unsuspecting men, between ages 18 and 35 and unaccompanied by women, crossed over. About halfway across the bridge, each man ran into an attractive young woman claiming to be doing research on beautiful places. She asked him a few questions and gave him her phone number in case he had follow-up questions.The experiment was repeated upriver on a bridge that was wide and sturdy and only 10 feet above a small rivulet. The same attractive coed met the men, brandishing the same questionnaire.The result? Men crossing the scary bridge rated the woman on the Capilano bridge more attractive. And about half the men who met her called her afterward. Only two of 16 men on the stable bridge called.Fear got their attention and aroused emotional centers in the brain. "People are more likely to feel aroused in a scary setting," Aron says. "It's pretty simple. You're feeling physiologically aroused, and it's ambiguous why. Then you see an attractive person, and you think, 'Oh, that's why.' "In a laboratory, Aron tested his arousal theory further by having people run in place for 10 minutes, and compared them with people who didn't run. Those who had exercised were more attracted to good-looking people in photographs than those who had been sedentary.Any kind of physiological arousal would probably do the trick, Aron concludes from his studies. Couples who ride roller coasters, laugh at a really funny comedian or escape a burning building together get an emotional jolt and could attribute the feeling to the attractiveness of the other.The forces of attraction are in many ways mysterious, but scientists know certain things. Studies have shown that women prefer men with symmetrical faces and that men like a certain waist-to-hip ratio in their mates. One study even found that women, when they sniffed men's T-shirts, were attracted to certain kinds of body odors.That initial spark can flash and fade. Or it can become a flame and then a fire, a rush of exhilaration, yearning, hunger and sense of complete union that scientists know as passionate love.Key to this state of seeing a person as a soul mate instead of a one-night stand is the limbic system, nestled deep within the brain between the neocortex (the region responsible for reason and intellect) and the reptilian brain (responsible for primitive instincts). Altered levels of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin -- neurotransmitters also associated with arousal -- wield their influence.But passionate love is something far stronger than that first sizzle of chemistry. "It's a drive to win life's greatest prize, the right mating partner," Fisher says. It is also, she adds, an addiction.People in the early throes of passionate love, she says, can think of little else. They describe sleeplessness, loss of appetite, feelings of euphoria, and they're willing to take exceptional risks for the loved one.Brain areas governing reward, craving, obsession, recklessness and habit all play their part in the trickery.In an experiment published as a chapter in a 2006 book, "Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience," Fisher found 17 people who were in relationships for an average of seven months. She knew they were in love from their answers to what researchers call the Passionate Love Scale. They all said they'd feel deep despair if their lover left, and they yearned to know all there was to know about the loved one.She put these lovesick, enraptured people in an fMRI to see what areas of their brains got active when they saw a photograph of their beloved ones."We found some remarkable things," she said. "We saw activity in the ventral tegmental area and other regions of the brain's reward system associated with motivation, elation and focused attention." It's the same part of the brain that presumably is active when a smoker reaches for a cigarette or when gamblers think they're going to win the lottery. No wonder it's as hard to say no to the feeling of romantic arousal as it would be to say no to a windfall in the millions. The brain has seen what it wants, and it's going to get it."At that point, you really wouldn't notice if he had three heads," Fisher says. "Or you'd notice, but you'd choose to overlook it."Other studies also suggest that the brain in the first throes of love is much like a brain on drugs.Lucy Brown, professor of neuroscience at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has also taken fMRI images of people in the early days of a new love. In a study reported in the July 2005, Journal of Neurophysiology, she too found key activity in the ventral tegmental area. "That's the area that's also active when a cocaine addict gets an IV injection of cocaine," Brown says. "It's not a craving. It's a high."You see someone, you click, and you're euphoric. And in response, your ventral tegmental area uses chemical messengers such as dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin to send signals racing to a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens with the good news, telling it to start craving."The other person becomes a goal in your life," Brown says. He or she becomes a goal you might die without and would pack up and move across the country for. That one person begins to stand out as the one and only.Biologically, the cravings and pleasure unleashed are as strong as any drug. Surely such a goal is worth taking risks for, and other alterations in the brain help ensure that the lovelorn will do just that. Certain regions, scientists have found, are being deactivated, such as within the amygdala, associated with fear. "That's why you can do such insane things when you're in love," Fisher says. "You would never otherwise dream of driving across the country in 13 hours, but for love, you would."Sooner or later, excited brain messages reach the caudate nucleus, a dopamine-rich area where unconscious habits and skills, such as the ability to ride a bike, are stored.The attraction signal turns the love object into a habit, and then an obsession. According to a 1999 study in the journal Psychological Medicine, people newly in love have serotonin levels 40% lower than normal people do -- just like people with obsessive-compulsive disorders.Experiments in other mammals add to the human chemical findings. Female prairie voles, for example, develop a distinct preference for a specific male after mating, and the preference is associated with a 50% increase in dopamine in the nucleus accumbens.But when the monogamous vole is injected with a dopamine antagonist, blocking the activity of the chemical, she'll readily dump her partner for another.
Using their heads
Kelly and Robert Iblings, now married for nine months, are fascinated by all this talk of nucleus accumbens, addiction and primitive mating instincts. Sure, they admit, they found each other attractive. But they were also making use of their front brains' sharp thinking skills. They were remembering painful past lessons and looking for signs of compatibility.They had each survived an earlier, failed engagement, and they knew what they were looking for this time around. They were listening to their front brains as they told them to look for compatibility, stability, shared values and commitment.From their first e-mail exchanges through eHarmony, an Internet dating service, the Iblings each felt they had found a unique mate. She liked to travel. So did he. They both love books and learning, have similar religious beliefs and come from loving, intact families. She no sooner sent an e-mail telling him about an exhibit she saw on a business trip to New York than he sent a message back telling her he knew of the exhibit because he had bought a book on it the day before.Coincidence, or soul mate?The front brain certainly gets involved as it ponders all of life's experiences and past mistakes, researchers say -- but not just the front brain. The nucleus accumbens, virtual swamp of dopamine that it is, is also holder of memories. Its quest for reward is influenced by childhood experiences, friends, previous failed engagements or the jerk who cheated on you. The sum of those experiences make some people attracted to a prince or a frog, a princess or a shrew.And, as it happens, practical matters such as whether a couple both like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain do matter in igniting passionate love.A research project headed by eHarmony Labs' Gonzaga interviewed 1,200 dating and newlywed couples. The results, reported in the July issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, found that those who reported similar interests and feelings were more satisfied. "Those who reported chemistry said they felt at ease, relaxed, connected. They knew they had some things in common," he says. "Chemistry is more than just being hot or handsome."Clearly, in the matters of love, the stars were aligned for the Iblings. When they met, they were ready for each other. But they were also attracted to each other. The chemistry was there. Most relationship researchers think it has to be.They had what it took to kick-start the relationship with an undeniable urgency, allowing two people to give up the candy store of other choices and commit to each other.Odds are that in two to four years, this urgency will fade -- and the couple will, if all goes well, settle in for the long haul with companionate love. Such peoples' lives are entwined, as are their property and bank accounts, and they begin to answer questionnaires differently. The rush and the urgency is gone, but they feel committed, emotionally close and stable.It is the state that many desire, yet it is the least studied. There's a reason for that. Most studies of couples are of college students and young newlyweds.Brown, however, has recently recruited volunteers for a study of people 40 to 65 who have been together for many years. She'll put them in fMRIs to see where love resides after the urgency fades. "It's unknown, the extent to which these original brain motivations are still active," she says. "Or whether companionate love has turned more cortical, more conscious thinking, more evaluative." Her first volunteers had their brains scanned this month.The free fall of love's first rush can happen at any age, whether people are 20 or 70, says Elaine Hatfield, psychology professor at the University of Hawaii and relationship researcher.What differs is that the older people get, the more memories they harbor of joy and trust, rejection and disappointment. And as people learn from experience, the front brain, with its logic and reason, probably gets a greater say."When you are young, passion and hope are so strong that's it's almost impossible to stop loving someone," Hatfield says. "After you've been kicked around by life, however, you start to have a dual response to handsome con men: 'Wow!' and 'Arrrrrrgh!'"It takes not will power but painful experience to make us wise."
And here you thought you loved your beloved just because they are so loveable, lol. This sure gives us an interesting view of what is really going on deep in the recesses of our brains. Also to some extent may explain people we know about whom we think "What in the world did they see in THAT" ? when we meet their beloved. Food for thought.
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